LWQ Retreat at Highfields

Women from all over QLD descended on Highfields Friday afternoon laden with their hand made gifts and for many of them their beautiful daughters. The theme was GIFTED so many brought their spiritual gifts of LOVE, JOY, FAITH, GRACE or just a word of encouragement  and a smile.

Friday night we were encouraged to recognize and accept our gifts. Ladies from the Brisbane north and Sunshine Coast including our leaders Ruth Geitz and Judith Smyth challenged us to Wake Up and Shape Up with a drama. We were put into groups -all parts of the body. They were Funny Bones, Beating Hearts, Welcoming Arms, Helping Hands, Calming Tongues, Stiff Joints, Baffling Brains, Busy Fingers, Happy Feet, Knobbly Knees, Listening Ears, Irresistible Eyes  We could then all join in the Hockey Pokey. We so enjoyed a competition to identify famous women and their talents

Morning devotions again focused on our spiritual  gifts of Grace and Joy and the gifts of women from the Bible who used their gifts to honour God. Pastor Maurice Richter our Chaplain in between playing the guitar introduced us to the Bible Studies, GIFTED for SERVICE using 1 Corinthians 12  one body ,many parts. We shared our stories of how we have served our Lord

Sat afternoon we went on a trip to Germany to learn more of our Gifted Martin Luther and his wife Katherine. Then came the moment for our talented ladies to show off the gifts of their hands, quilts, photography, paintings, wood work, sewing  to name just a few. Someone had brought along sheet music from past ages so a choir was quickly formed to entertain.

Oh what a treat on Saturday night to enjoy the talents of Pastor Reid Matthias and his beautiful wife Christine and daughters Elsa, Josephine and little Greta who all used their gifts of music to inspire us Thank you  so much.

Our worship  on Sunday in tranquil surrounds  centred around the one body of Christ but many parts being us .We again heard of our spiritual gifts and how we are to use them to God’s Glory. The Gospel  lesson from Matthew 25 ,the parable of The Talents was again acted out and we  sang lustily to outdo the kookaburras.

After partaking of the heavenly meal the Lord has provided for us and our earthly lunch we said goodbye to our newfound gifted sisters and our long time friends  promising to met up next year.

Felicity Bradford